


«l; 



LIB RARY OF CONGR ESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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U COMPEPllM OF USEFUL l\F0RMiTI0N;3 



CONTAINING 



DISCRIPTIONS, DIRECTIONS, FORMULAE, 
a^ TABLES, RECIPES, etc. <v 



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STATESVlliliE : 

WILL. P. DRAKE, PRINTER. 
1879. 



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Ife Bool. 



A COMPENDira OF USEFUL I 



CONTAINING 



DISCRIPTIOITS, DIRECTIONS, PORMULiE, 
TABLES, RECIPES, etc. 



J. H .^B-wd" 






STATESVILtE : v/(y^ C, 

WILL. P. DRAKE, PRINTER. 
1879. 

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■> ^^ 

This is to certify that I, the purchaser of this book, having my 
attention directed hereto, have, by the act of purchasing, fully agreed 
and bound myself, on my most sacred word of honor, not to loan or 
in any way to make known, or allow others to make known, the con- 
tents of this book to any person except the members of my own house 
hold. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by 

J. H. BEST, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington. 



IJ^TRODUCTIOJT. 

I do not claim that " My Little Book " contains all the in- 
formation upon the different subjects of wliich it treats, but I do 
claim that there are manj' books of more than ten times the size 
of this that are not worth half as much. 

Many of the receipts and formulas which it contains have been 
sold seperately for $1.00, $2.00 and $5.00 each, and some of them 
are worth hundreds of dollars to those who will use them. I 
have tested most of them myself and have seen nearly all of them 
in use, therefore I do not guess, but know, that I may with en- 
tire confidence hand this little volume to the public and guarantee 
entire satisfaction to every purchaser. That it may do much good 
in every household in which it may be introduced is the earnest 
wish of THE AUTHOR. 



BUILDING HOUSES. 

The L fashion or connecting the rear with the front is con 
venient, but is often at the expense of comfort. In a warm cli- 
mate we need all the ventilation we can get, and whenever we 
attach a huge rear part to the front, some rooms are necessarily 
cut off from any dralt. Would it not be well to build our houses 
but one room deep and, if necessary, build another, or two even, 
placing them a few feet apart and connecting with corridors so 
arranged with doors and windows opening down to the floor that 
they maj' be thrown completely open in the summer time ? Thus 
a current can be secured to each room. It is difficult to place 
buildings in such a position as to have no draft through them if 
doors and windows are opposite each other. By all means two 
stories, if possible, for the main building, with high steep roof, 
which permits a well ventilated garret to protect the rooms be- 
low it from the sun's heat. Then with windows raised on three 
sides in the upper chambers one ought to sleep comfortably, and 
the corridor, if built wide enough, would make a very pleasant 
dining room all summer, and in winter also if the doors and win- 
dows are well constructed so as to close tightl3^ 

The central or main building two stories, and wide passage 
with stairway. Twelve or fifteen feet distant from either end, a 
building of one story and same distance or more in the rear, an- 
other of sizes to suit wants of family all connected as above, with 
verandalis added in good taste, will not only be very pretty, but 
far more comfortable in summer than houses built "all in a 
heap," and consequently suit a warmer climate much better. 

THE MEANS GRASS. 

Almost unknown, and generally hated as far as known be- 
cause of its tendency to spread by the seed, and the difficulty of 
eradicating it, although all agree that hogs will do it. 

It is a rapid growei', particularly on good land, but will grow 
anywhere, makes a great abundance of good pasture, and if cut 



as soon as the seed tops appear, makes good hay, while hogs fat. 
ten on the roots, which are about the size of your little finger and 
resemble cane roots. It has the appearance of corn when young, 
and cannot be readily distinguished from it. Every seed and 
every little piece of root will grow. Those who know it best say 
that on bottoms it can be cut tor hay every month during sum- 
mer, starting early and growing until frost. All kinds of stock, 
except sheep, eat it with avidity. It would seem that poor land 
would be better stocked with Means Grass than with broom sedge 
and clay gullies. 

If a whole plantation, or the major portion, were stocked with 
this grass, a part of it devoted to hay and the rest with all the 
cattle on it that could be well carried, it would pay many times 
more per acre than ten bushels of corn, five bushels of wheat, or 
half bale of cotton with four dollars worth of fertilizer under it. 
I heard of one man in South Carolina somewhere on the Conga- 
rec who was said to be getting rich by cutting three or four crops 
of Means Grass each season, baling and shipping it. My inform- 
ant also told me that he was getting six tons per acre. I do not 
believe it. It is said there are no washes where it grows, whether 
in bottoms or hillsides, and that the land is permanently im. 
proved by it. I have taken much pains to investigate, and be- 
lieve the above to be substantially correct. One thing more I 
observed, that it grew as well in the shade as anywhere, except 
that the leaves were narrower and the stalk thinner. Of course 
every one rnust decide for himself whether the advantages out- 
weigh the disadvantages or not. It is perennial. If carefully 
kept in afield by itself, and not allowed to go to seed at all, it 
can only spread by the roots, which will be a slow progress. Birds 
will carry the seed eveiywhere. 

THE COW PEA. 

I do not believe this plant can be too highly recommended. 
Whether for forage, fertilizer, hay or fattening stock, or as a milk 
producer, the pea answers every call. Why don't every farmer 
sow all his cornfield with a bushel of peas to the acre at the last 
working ? They will certainly yield six or seven bushels without 
plowing or any labor except the sowing, and all know they would 
save just so many bushels of corn, and the hogs would be very 



glad to gather them and thank you for the privilege. Where 
forage is scarce they can be raised successfully on the poorest 
land and will improve it to the full extent of their cost, and if 
only fertilized with leached ashes sown broadcast, or with any 
sort of trash or litter. If you have never done it then try it 
just once, and see what an amount of good hay can be made from 
worthless land and the land improved at the same time. Let the 
pea vines be cut and cured as elsewhere directed, and have fat 
stock all winter, save corn, and have nice rich milk and plenty of 
fine butter. Poor milk only makes a sort of white cheesy stuff 
that is not much more like real butter than a clay bank is like a 
custard pudding. 



HOW TO HAVE PLENTY OF FORAGE WITH LITTLE 

COST. 

Sow peas. Sow peas. They will grow on old field, on bottom 
and upland, will yield a fair crop of grain or forage, and improve 
the land as well. In cotton lands oats may be sown to advantage 
at the last working, and afford splendid winter and early spring 
pasture, particularly on bottoms, and also prevent the growth of 
meaner stuff. 



HOW TO CURE PEA VINES FOR HAY. 

Build a rail pen, place rails across about one foot from the 
ground, cut the peas and let them wilt, but not long enough to 
lose the leaves, then haul to the pen and put in loosely as thick 
as they will bear without heating, say about two-and-a-half feet, 
put a few more rails across and then more peas. You see the 
air will circulate above and under and through each layer. Re- 
peat and carr}^ Up as high as you please. Cover the pen with 
anything that will shed all the water, and you will have the best 
of forage. 

CLOVER AND ORCHARD GRASS. 

To get a good stand you must understand your soil and climate. 
Clover does best on soils inclined to red. There is danger of its 
burning out on sandy soils the first year. It is useless to sow on 



poor land. It is not necessary to subsoil sandy land, but clay or 
clay subsoil should be broken eight inches or more. A plow 
called " The Southern Renovator " will turn the surface and sub- 
soil at the same time. Clover and grass seed will succeed best 
with winter oats it sown about first of September, but if the land 
is at all likely to spue by frost, then sow either on spring oats or 
winter wheat, first passing a light harrow over it. If manure is 
not plenty give a good top dressing and harrow in with the grain. 
Then sow the grass seed. Some put clover seed in with the har- 
row. On fresh land just cleared never sow clover or orchard 
grass. Blue grass will do better. To make it thrifty scatter 
ashes on it just before rain. Leached ashes are good. Give ber- 
ry bushes saw dust, leaves, or rotten bark ; either will help. 

SEEDING TO GRASS ALONE. 

Last year the writer sowed a piece of fallow ground to orchard 
grass and clover, on the first day of August. The ground was 
tnoroughly prepared in Jul}^, and was top-dressed with short man- 
ure harrowed in. Three bushels, 42 lbs. of oachard grass seed, 
and a half peck of clover were sown, and covered by drawing a 
smoothing plank diagonally across the harrow marks. This cov- 
ered the seed evenly and smoothed the ground. The present year 
one crop of hay, equal to two tons per acre, was taken in May, 
and the after growth will give a second crop. 

PLANT LICE. 

Water, with kerosene in it at the rate of a spoonful to a gallon 
and plentifully sprinkled upon the infested plants, will cause the 
vermin to emigrate or die. 

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN FERTILIZERS. 

Select a level spot, dig out a little to make it hollow, cut a lit* 
tie ditch out at one side and cover with a plank. Sink a barrel 
or half barrel in the ground below the level of the outer end of 
the ditch to catch any drainage from the compost and occasion- 
ally dip it out and pour over the top of the compost heap. 

Take of stable manure and cotton seed each 850 pounds and 



s 

300 pounds dissolved bone. Commence the heap with a layer of 
stable manure two or three inches thick, then a layer of dissolved 
bone and then cotton seed, and so repeat until you have made 
your pile. If you can manage to save all the chamber lye and 
urine from the stables to wet this compost with pretty thoroughly 
while it is being put up so much the better. If not, then use 
water and cover the heap with dry earth or plaster. In about six 
weeks fermentation will be complete and the cotton seed killed. 
Careful handling while using will mix it thoroughly. When 
hauled out it must be put where you want it in the furrow and 
covered immediately. If at any time you smell it, delay not to 
cover with dry pulverized earth or plaster. The fine dust 
gathered in a clay road during summer is excellent. 

Get and save all the ashes and apply at the rate of 10 bushels 
per acre, particularly on sandy land, which is usually more defi- 
cient in potash than clay, although it will prove beneficial on 
both. Calling on more than a hundred farmers who live in two 
adjoining States, I found but two that had plenty of money, and 
they made their own fertilizers, or nearly all, buying only a little 
of the commercial articles to supplement their own. Some have 
no cotton seed. Very well. Use stable manure, woods mold, 
muck rich earth. Prepare a goodly heap of mold, muck or trash 
near the kitchen, and let all slops be poured on it, keeping the 
rain off. You will be astonished at the number of dollars your 
kitchen back door can bring. The heap will need changing^ occa- 
sionally. 



HOW TO MAKE SUPERPHOSPHATE. 

In making superphosphate or dissolving bones use three parts 
water to one of sulphuric acid, pouring the acid slowly in the 
water and stirring it. Do not pour water in the acid. Have 
some weak lye at hand so that if any of the acid should spatter 
on your face or hands you can apply the lye immediately and save 
your skin. If any gets on your clothes you will find a hole there. 
It takes something strong to dissolve bones. Dissolve eal ammo- 
niac in hot water and mix in hard wood ashes and you will have 
ammonia. If used in compost, keep well covered with dry earth- 



Sow TO MAKE COMPOST. 

in composting do not mix the superphosphate with the lime 
and ashes, but place it between separate layers. The salt and 
salt-petre had better be dissolved in the water with which the heajl 
is wet. If 600 pounds of cotton seed can be substituted for one 
portion of the manure in the following formula so much the bet- 
ter. The layers should not be very thick, and care must be taken 
to have all well mixed when hauled out, and covered immediately. 
Remember the compost heap should be kept well covered with 
dry pulverized dirt or earth, for which nothing is better than the 
scrapings of dust on a clay road. It will absorb and hold more 
ammonia than anything else, but must be kept dry. If you ever 
smell the compost heap use dry earth. 

A $5.00 FORMULA. 

Stable manure 600 pounds* 

Woods mold or lot manure 600 " 

Hard wood ashes 200 " 

Slaked lime 200 " 

Salt no, saltpetre 30 200 " 

Dissolved bone or superphosphate 200 " 



2000 



(. 



The above formula is selling at $5.00. I have improved it by 
adding 200 pounds of superphosphate in place of manure. 



HOW TO DISSOLVE BONES. 

Take 100 pounds of bones beaten into as small Iragments as 
possible, pack them in a tight box with 100 pounds of hard wood 
ashes, first mixing the ashes with 25 pounds of slacked lime and 
12 pounds of sal soda powdered fine. Then add 20 gallons of 
water to saturate the mass, adding more from time to time as re- 
quired to maintain the moisture. In a month the bones will be 
dissolved, when they may be mixed with two bushels of woods 
mold or of good soil, and after drying are ready to use. 

Superphosphate of bone is composed of two parts bones, one 
part sulphuric acid and three parts water, treated as above, but 
the soda, ashes and lime are often obtainable when tlie acid is not. 



id 



ABOUT ASHES. 



A good rule to fdlow is never to put ashes in the compost heap 
for fear they will liberate the ammonia, and that the coyering of 
the heap will not be sufficient to catch it. Scattered broadcast at 
the rate of 8 to 12 bushels per acre (pine lands a little more, clay 
lands may do with less), is always a safe way. Tobacco, which 
is always finest on the gray soils, is not likely to be injured by 
ashes ; but most cultivators would find their account in buying 
all they can at a reasonable price, remembering that leached ashes 
are far less valuable than unleached, but leached ashes spread on 
grass lands have a fine effect. The manurial value of good ashes 
is not less than 30 cents a bushel. 

The following formulae were prepared by Dr. A. R. Ledoux of 

the agricultural department of the University of North Carolina, 
and forwarded by Hon. L. L. Polk, Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture: 



FORMULA NO. I. 

Stable manure 800 lbs. 

Cotton seed 160* " 

Dissolved bone 450 " 

2000 
♦About 37 bushels. 



FORMULA NO. II. 

Dry muck, peat, or yard scrapings 600 lbs. 

Cotton seed 600* " 

Acid phosphate 600 " 

Muriate of potash , 100 " 

Sulphate of ammonia 100 " 

2000 

*About 22 bushels. 

The muriate of potash and sulphate of ammonia being dis- 
solved in water and used to wet the heap may be applied in the 
same proportions. For wheat and rye or oats 300 to 400 pounds 
per acre, it may be harrowed in with the grain. 



11 



FORMULA NO. III. 



Stable or lot manure 500 lbs. 

ITnburnt marl 500 " 

Fertilizing salt 200 " 

Dissolved bones 500 " 

Sulphate of potash ^ 150 " 

Sulphate of ammonia 150 " 

2000 

This formula may be prepared by composting in layers, or mix 
the marl and salt together thoroughly and apply the mixture as 
a covering to the compost of cotton seed, stable manure and dis- 
solved bone, then sprinkle with the solution of sulphate of am> 
monia. 

FOR TOBACCO. 

Stable manure, mould, &c , 1000 lbs. 

Sulphate of potash 300 " 

" ammojiia 100 " 

" magnesia 100 " 

Dissolved bone 400 " 

Land plaster 100 " 

2000 



REARING CALVES BETTER AND CHEAPER. 

Fifty years ago all the calves in New York and Pennsylvania 
sucked the cows. Now, if for veal, they are fed all the milk they 
can drink twice a day until four weeks old, when they are slaught- 
ered, and usually weigh about 100 pounds net. The veal is bet- 
ter and fatter at that age than either older or younger. After 
four weeks they gain in size but not in fatness. The dairymen 
usually kill their calves the first week, selling the skin and feed- 
ing the carcass to the hogs, or if near a city sell the calves to the 
Irish, who are fond of them at that age. Calves to be reared are 
never allowed to suck, but the cow is milked and the milk fed to 
the calf, which is taught to drink in two or three days by hold- 
ing its head in the bucket with one hand and with the other hand 
in the milk giving it two of the fingers to suck, holding then; 
just a little apart (only a little) so the milk can pass between 
them slowly. It will soon drink alone by merely putting its nose 



12 

down to the milk. As soon as the milk is good to use it is fed 
with skimmed milk, and afterwards, by degrees, taught to drink 
buttermilk by mixing in a little at a time at first, and fine Indian 
meal may be added, or dish water and meal. With a good, fresh, 
young grass pasture, at six months you see a big calf. 

On the other hand, there are many people in the Southern States 
who allow the calf to take one-half of the milk all summer. 
Sometimes there is but one cow to supply the family, but the poor 
calf must have half. They would not sell any at five cents per 
quart, but the miserable calf can have a gallon a daj'^, which, at 
twenty cents per gallon, would be $1.40 per week, or in 20 weeks 
$28.00 ; and after having been pestered with it all summer and 
given it so much, (which yet was not half enough for the calf,) it 
is sold for two dollars. How many millions are annually lost by 
this wasteful management of calves. 



TREATMENT OF STOCK. 

Whoever beats, kicks, or abuses stock is not fit to be entrusted 
with their care. I have had cows that would kick the bucket 
ovei the fence when first bought that in six months knew their 
names, would come when called, and stand to be milked without 
lifting a foot. A mild, firm course, with plenty of good humor 
and kindness, will generally succeed. Cows should never be made 
to run either to or from their pastures, no whips allowed and no 
dogs, unless such as are specially trained to their business. Good 
treatment pays, with better milk and more of it. 



IMPORTANT TO OWNERS OF HORSES. 

The following recipe will cure the worst cases of colic in horses: 
1^ oz. Laudanum ; 2 oz. Salphate Ether ; 1 oz. Tincture Asafce- 
tida; ^ oz. Extract Ginger. Shake well and drench the horse. 

TO MAKE STOCK WORK MANY YEARS. 

If we want horses and mules to die or become worthless in a 
comparativelj' short time it is a good plan to feed only with corn, 
but if they are to live and work to a good old age they must have 



1^ 

plenty of good green food during summer and good hay during 
winter, with all the salt and cool, clear water they want, and care 
taken not to have them ovei'-worked when young. When I was 
ten years old I went to catch a quiet-looking horse, but when 
pretty near him he put up head and tail and ran awa}-. Chag- 
rined, I returned, and it did not help the matter a bit when uncle 
said, " that horse you couldn't catch is five-aud-twenty years old,, 
and sound as a dollar." Since that I have seen ofl.e worked till, 
he was 29 and mules until 35. Good treatment pays. Ground 
and cut food is much the best. 

TO DESTROY WARBLES* 

If you wish to protect cattle'trom the torment of warbles give 
their backs an occasional bath of pretty strong brine or tobacco 
water, particularly during and immediately after the fly season, 
and you will kill the last one. 

MURRAIN OR INPLAMATJON. 

What is called murrain or distemper in cattle is frequently no- 
thing more or less than inflamatiun of the stomach, or of the large 
bowel, and if attended to in its earlier stages is usually' suscepti- 
ble of cure; 20 to 25'or 30 grains' of calomel, with same quan- 
tity of rhubai'b, given every two hours for six Or eight hours, and 
three hours after the last dose give eight ounces of glaub'er o'r 
epsom salts. If there is no operation in two hours repeat the 
dose, and have the animal moved gently about. If two'^liours 
more pass by without evacuations use injecftions of mild soap- 
suds or molasses and water freely, still moving the animdl about. 
Evacuations will almost certainly follow. "Feed moderately of 
bran mash or gruel, with good tender grass Or sweet haj^ or corn 
fodder, cut and mixed with meal and hot water, stirred and fed 
when cool for a few days. If the above directions are followed, 
making due allowance in doses according to age, and not neglect- 
ing the use of remedies until the disease has progressed so far as 
to be utterly incurable, a perfect cure may be expected. Infla- 
mation progresses quite rapidly, and brooks no delay]' Remem- 
ber always tliat an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of 
cure. 



U / 

REMEDY FOR HOG CHOLERA 

By one who has often tried it. Shell an ear of corn, soak it in 
itrong Ijre all night, next morning add half teaspoonful of pul- 
Vf rized copperas, (no more,) mix and feed in a clean trough. Re- 
peat this on the following morning, adding half a teaspoonful of 
black pepper pulverized. After this give a teaspoonful of black 
pepper every morning for a week in boiled meal» or boiled meal 
and beans. 

RESULTS. 

All the hogs that ate got well, and those that were well did not 
get sick. The above is a dose for a single full-grown hog. Shoats 
andl pigs should be treated in proportionate quantity. 

TO PREVENT OR CURE HOG CHOLERA. 

Three bushels of ashes, half a bushel of slacked lime, half 
bushel salt, ten pounds copperas and a gallon of bran. Mix dty 
und put in a trough where the hogs can have constant access to 
it. They will eat it when wtll, but if at all sick will go straight 

t0 it. 

2. — To one gallon of tar add four ounces of calomel, one-half 
popnd of copperas and one-half pound of golden seal. Stir the 
ingredients well, and with a wooden paddle spread lightly upon 
cprn in the ear and give one ear to each hog or shoat every two 
or three weeks, and oftener when neighbors' hogs are diseased. 

3. Confine the hogs in a pen, take crude petroleum and withacom- 
won tin sprinkler saturate them from head to foot, also giving it 
internally on corn. This will also keep them free from lice , and 
if, in addition, their sleeping places are well sprinkled they will 
be free from fleas. Do not apply or give it too often. Use your 
judgment. 

i. Give your hogs good, comfortable, clean, well ventilated quar- 
ters, with good wholesome food and a plentiful supply of fresh 
wood ashes and charcoal, with a little salt and occasionally sul- 
phur kept where the hogs can have constant access to it. Keep 
them free from lice and cholera will not be likely to attack them 
at all. 5. See your hogs every morning. If one is missing look him 
up, and if he has the least symptoms of sickness give simple 



remedies just as ydii would a cbild, only proportion the dose ac> 
cording to size and age. When a hog first rises it will, if healthy, 
have an evacuation from the bowels soft and mushy. If there is 
inward fever the excrement, if an}', will consist of hard, round 
balls, for which loosening medicines and change of diet is neoefl>- 
sary. 

6. One who puts more than 500 hogs on the market every year, 
and loses none, uses the following prescription, viz : 4 ounces chrytf- 
talized carbolic acid dissolved in ^ a pint of rain water. Dose^ 
twenty-five drops to each hog, or a teaspoonful to four hogs given 
in a little slop or milk. If the hog can't eat or drink pour it down* 
The above has been successfully used T years. 

LICE AND TICKS. 

I have found nothing better than on ointment composed of one.' 
pound lard, one pint Of kerosene and four ounces of sulphur welli 
mixed and applied With a swab while the hogs SLte eating, and as 
often as the vermin manifest their unwelcome presence. Just &i 
good for cows as for bogs. 

TO PREVENT OR CURE CHICKEN CHOLERA. ->' ' 

Have comfortable, dry, clean, and well ventilated quarters. A 
complete change of food as often as practicable. Ground pepper, 
red or blaek, always given in all soft food, not too much, but suf- 
ficient to season well ; a small quantity of copperas dissolved ill 
their drinkmg water occasionally, say one-eighth pound to a pail^ 
ful of water, or one ounce to a bucketful. 

The natural wants of fowls should be supplied to keep them in 
health. Gravel, lime, grass, or green food, insects or animal food, 
are all essential to health. The celebrated " Douglas Mixture *' 
is as follows : One pound sulphate of iron, one pound sulphufi(i 
acid, one gallon of water. Give it teaspoonful in each pint ot 
wttter placed before the fowls to drink, occasionally in health as 
a preventive, frequently in disease as a corrective. For an itt" 
ter&al remedy calomel and rhubarb made into pills of dough or 
meal, so as to give a single grain or two of each at a dose, will 
be found efficacious. Pulverized Mandrake Root mixed in their 
food in moderate quantity is also bieneficial. 



16 

TO KEEP CLEAR OF LICIJ. 

Give them clean premises, clust-baths to wallow in. Leached 
ashes are best. Flower of sulphur in litter of nests. The roost- 
ing places saturated with coal oil — crude petroleum is best — and 
have everything about them whitewashed, put on hot if possible. 
If the vermin are plentiful fumigate with brimstone and rosin. 
It will be found " an ounce of prevention, is better than a pound 
of cure. 



SCALY LEGS 

Are produced by insects burrowing under the scales of the legs 
and eat into them. An ointment composed of one pound lard, 
one pint kerosene and four ounces of sulphur, being sure to have 
it well mixed, is a sure remedy. If well done a single applica- 
tion is sufficient. Carbolic acid in proportion of one drop of acid 
to five drops of water, or spirits of turpentine, will do, but the 
legs must be oiled or greased afterwards. 

SUCCESS 

Is assured when all kinds of farm stock are well fed and pro. 
perly attended. A bountiful supply of good clean water, with 
yards, pens, stables, and everything about them kept clean, well 
ventilated and inodorous. A little study and attention to the na- 
tural wants of birds or beasts will paj'' one hundred fold. 



POULTRY CHOLERA. 

^Reader," Montmorency, Indiana, writes the following : " If 
you want your chickens to get well of the cholera in two days, 
use my remedy : Take good clear water and put in a bucket of 
any kind ; thenr get white-oak bark (that from an old tree is the 
best,) put it in the water and let it steep until the water is of a 
copper color, and then pour it in your drinking-vessels or foun- 
tain, and do not let the fowls drink any other water. Give them 
their usual feed, and a cure will be^^effected in a short time. I 
have tried this for five years, and it has never failed." 



ir 



WINTER EGGS. 



If 3'ou want plenty of winter eggs raise early pullets, because, 
if well kept, they will commence laying in the fall, while old hens 
will scarcely lay many eggs before spring. It is a good plan not 
to have any hens more than three years old. 

HATCHING. 

If you want eggs to hatch well put some moist sods in the box 
to the depth of three inches, in order to preserve some moisture. 
All know that nests on the ground are the best places foi hatch- 
ing. Imitate them. 

TO PROTECT MELON AND CUCUMBER PLANTS 
FROM THE RAVAGES OF THE YELLOW FLY. 

Everybody can have charcoal. Pound it fine as possible. If 
you have no fine seive take a finely-woven basket, or even a loose- 
ly-woven cloth in which to put the charcoal, and in the early morn. 
ing when the dew is on shake enough over the plants to blacken 
them well. I liave used it many yea.YS and never knew it to fail. 

Sometimes they attack the plant at the root, just beneath the 
surface of the ground. This should be watched, and at the first 
indication surround the stem of each plant with charcoal dust 
The best way to pulverize it is with pestle and mortar. 

It is said that radish seed planted with the melon seed is a pre. 
ventive, because the bugs prefer the radishes and will eat no 
melons while they can get them. 

SURE WAY TO RAISE MELONS. 

With a turning plow open a good furrow, going twice through 
at least. Put in plenty of thoroughly decomposed manure — a 
good compost is best — then with a subsoil plow go through three 
or four times, mixing the manure and subsoil thoroughly. Turn 
the soil back, forming a ridge. This should be done at least a 
month before planting time. Then open the ridge for the seed' 
and if a little commercial fertilizer mixed with an equal quantity 
of woods mould be applied, so much the better. Cover or pass 
a roller over and that part of the work is done. I prefer plant- 



18 

ing in drills, because a good stand is secured and all the weakly- 
looking plants may be either chopped out or pulled up from time 
to time. The distance of the rows and the distance of plants 
apart in the rows will, of course, vary considerably in different 
localities and under different management. Rows ten feet apart 
and plants three feet apart in the row seems to be nearly right 
for water-melons, and one-half those distances for musk-melons. 
It is said by some that the intervening spaces between the rows 
may be sown in peas, and will prove beneficial to the melons. 

GILT-EDGED BUTTER. 

Do not imagine for a moment that good butter can be made 
from poor cows, or in a dilapidated wooden spring-house. Every- 
thing about milk and butter must be perfectUj sweet and clean. 
Consequently a stone spring-house smoothly plastered and white- 
washed on the inside, with water-tank so arranged that the water 
can be kept at proper depth and all parts easily cleaned and well 
ventilated, with a small chimney having in it a trap that ran be 
closed during the heat of the day and a window or two covered 
with wire gause to exclude flies and vermin, and to be opened 
when cool enough for ventilation., a little stove in one corner to 
keep it warm in winter and a thermometer whereby to regulate 
the temperature, the floor bemg made on solid bottom at least 
two inches thick of hydraulic lime and sand, and a thin coat of 
cement to finish. Now, with good^ well-fed coivs, proper vessels 
and management, you may have " gilt-edged butter." 

HOW TO MAKE PORK AT TWO CENTS A POUND. 

Nothing can be done with " razor-backs," but half bloods will 
do pretty well. Essex, or cross of Berkshire and Essex, seem 
about the best. Have the pigs dropped about first of March, and 
have a clover pasture (with running water in it, if possible), of 
sufficient size, according to the number of swine, for their range. 
Sow plent}' of peas, some as early as possible and some later, al- 
ways having enough and to spare, and as soon as they fairly be- 
gin to ripen in the first field turn them in and follow up as sowed 
until in the last field, which will be those sowed at the last work- 
ing of the corn. When done with these, feed with corn for two 



19 

or three weeks and kill them. If you have managed properly and 
have castrated all the boars at three weeks old and let the sows 
alone, with plenty to eat and a little medicine sometimes, as else- 
where directed, every one of those pigs will tilt the beam at two 
hundred in December. The peas and hogs will improve the land 
beyond the cost of putting in the crop of peas, and the hog crop 
is made simply at the expense of a little clover and a little corn. 
Let every one have his opinion about making cheap pork out 
West. The " Sunny South " can produce it and ship it there at 
a profit. Keep no hogs during winter, except brood sows and 
perhaps a boar, unless you have late fall pigs. 

TO MAKE SHEEP PROFITABLE. 

If you wish to make them profitable you should see them fre- 
quently. During the lambing season twice a day, and always see 
that they have enough to eat and convenient shelter to protect 
them from the storms. The cold rains of the South are far worse 
than the cold dry snows of the North. By judicious crossing 
with grade rams which cost but little, and with good care a flock 
can be made to average four pounds of washed wool and very 
nearly two lambs each. I once raised twenty-three lambs from 
eleven ewes. All raised twins but one, and she had triplets. The 
lambs were fat and sold readily at two dollars, add the wool, 
forty-six pounds, at thirty-five cents — siuty-tuw dollars from 
eleven theep. They were a cross of common native sheep oy 
grade rams of the large Merino and Southdown breeds, no ram 
ever costing more than five dollars. Sheep must always have 
cleanliness and pure air, with plenty of good food. 

SOFT SOAP. 

From twenty to twenty-five pounds of grease, according to the 
size of barrel, with a sufficient quantity of good lye, you can 
make a barrel of soap. 

THE DOLLAR RECIPE. 

To four pounds good bar soap one ounce aqua ammonia, one 
ounce borax, two pounds sal soda. Shave up the soap and put 



20 

in six gallons of soft water, bring it to boil, stir till dissolved, 
then add sal soda. When it is dissolved add the borax and when 

partly cooled add the ammonia, always stirring it in, and you 

have 50 pounds of soap. 

HARD SOAP. 

Seven pounds of sal soda, three of fresh slaked lime, five gal- 
lons of water, boiled till dissolved, then allowed to settle, and 
four gallons clear liquor poured off, to which is added, boiling 
hot, four pounds of clean grease and two ounces of powdered 
borax, will make a superior quality of hard white soap. 

A LINIMENT THAT NEVER FAILS. 

Oil origanum, laudanum, gum camphor and soda, half ounce 
each, hall pint alcohol and one-and-a-half ounces of sal ammo- 
niac. Put origanum, laudanum and camphor gum in alcohol and 
dissolve all. Then, after having dissolved the soda and sal am- 
moniac in a little hot water, (as little as possible,) mix all to- 
gether. Thin is to reduce inflamatiou in man or beast. 

LINIMENT NO. 2. 

One of the very best liniments ever made for man or beast is 
composed of equal parts laudanum, alcohol, and oil of worm- 
wood. Its effect to relieve pain is almost magical. 

TO RESTORE GRAY HAIR. 

Lac sulphur, 2 drams sugar of lead one dram, rose water 8 
ounces ; mix and apply moderately once a day. This is the 
" General Twiggs " recipe. I like the following very well, and it 
is cheaper. 

Take a handful of sage leaves, put them in a quart of water, 
and steep or boil down to a pint. Strain or pour off. Add a tea- 
spoonful of powdered borax, and as soon as it is dissolved put in 
a handful of old rusty nails or bits of old rusty iron. Shake up 
occasionally, and in three or four days it vvill be ready to use. 
Not being a dye it does not change the color at once, but gradu- 
ally. Scent to suit. Chronic gray can only be changed by dye- 
ing. 



21 



WHITEWASH. 



To keep it from nibbing off take Iialf a pint of flour, make it 
into a thin paste and stir it thoroughly, with the whitewabh in the 
bucket. 



TO TEST FOll IMPURE WATER. 

Take seven grains of crystal nitrate of silver, dissolve in one 
ounce of distilled water, (or take one-half or one-fourth the quan- 
tities.) To a tumbler of water from the suspected well add one 
teaspoonful of the above mixture. If a flocculeut precipitate is 
produced a presence of chlorine is detected. If the precipitate 
is copious the well had better be closed for repairs. 

No. 2. 
In an^' convenient vessel put about a pint of water from the 
same well, and add an ounce of caustic potash, (in sticks,) boil 
briskly. An}^ presence of ammonia may be detected by the 
smell, as it is evolved during the boiling, and if much, close the 
well. I have not given the tests for minerals, as a little lime or 
iron is not considered hurtful. 

MANDRAKE. 

When convalescent from bilious attacks many people complain 
for want of appetite. A little mandrake root eaten in small 
quantities, say about half an inch in length, during the day is 
usually effectual in correcting the difficulty. It acts mildly on 
the liver and digestive organs, being a splendid alterative. Per 
haps, if used in time, it might prevent many bilious difficulties. 
Mandrake Pills are advertised at twenty-five cents per box ; but 
twenty-five cents worth of root will make twenty-five boxes of 
pills. It is called *' May Apple Root " bj' some. It should be 
dried beforehand, as the green root might be too rank. Of course 
any one can pulverize it and make pills, if desirable. 

I5ATTERY. 

A good galvanic battery can now be procured at (juite mode- 
rate cost, and for many cases of rheumatism, neuralgia, partial 



22 

paralysis and torpid liver acts like a charm, requiring no medi- 
cine, or but little of it, and causing no ill effects. Useless limbs 
have been completely restored to their normal functions. Severe 
neuralgia has been cured in five minutes. Torpid livers that suc- 
cessfully defied all medical treatment for years have been com- 
pletely cured in a few weeks. Like many other remedies, it some- 
times acts like a charm and sometimes fails altogether. 

It will be very likely to fail in the hands of an inexperienced 
person. I have cured bad cases of rheumatism at two sittings. 

A COTTON-SEED PLANTER 

Saves much time and about one-half the seed. It opens the 
drill, distributes the seed, and covers it welly at one operation. 
Cotton is so cheap it must be more cheaply made. Whare fer- 
tilizer is used it is best put in bj' a distributor ; but all commer- 
cial fertilizers must necessarily give way for home-made compost. 

GOOD GARDEN. 

There is no use in trying to have a good vegetable garden with- 
out plenty of well decomposed stable manure. A soil deeply 
loosened by spade, or subsoil plow and frequent, thorough culti- 
vation. But we must be careful not to disturb the growing roots. 
Irish potatoes have been luined bp close plowing and cutting of 
the setts. Yet they should be well plowed and thickly covered 
to prevent injury from the sun's heat. Let the plow be run just 
outside the roots. Where the ground is inclined to bake let it 
be underdrained. Dusting the roots of cabbage plants with fine 
bone dust is the best remedy we have so far for ravages ot the 
cabbage fly ; and it is not a certain remed}'. 

Be very careful to save all the chicken manure, because every 
pound of it is worth three pounds of guano ; but it must be kept 
out of the rain and mixed with three times its own bulk of woods 
mold, or rich earth, before using. Mixing with ashes will de- 
stroy it by liberating the ammonia. 

TO STOP HINGES FROM CREAKING. 

A little soft soap put on barn door or gate hinges Avill prevent 
tlieir creaking. But one application is needed. Try it. 



2S 



" STIR THE SOIL.' 



" If I had to preach a sermon on horticulture," says Downing, 
'* I should take this for my text," stir the soil." In dry weather 
it is very essential that the soil be stirred often. The air waters 
the fresh-dug soil much more effectually than we can do. 

A man will raise more moisture with a spade and a hoe in a 
day than he can pour on the earth out of a watering pot in a 
week. If the ground be suffered to become close and compact, 
the cool surface exposed to the air tor the reception of moisture 
is smaller, and what is deposited does not enter into the earth far 
enough to be appropriated ; but if the soil be loose and porous 
the air enters more deeply and deposits its moisture beneath the 
surface. Almost any soil in which a seed will germinate may be 
made by continued hoeing to produce a crop. Above all, cut 
away every weed that appears. "One year's seeding makes 
seven year's weeding." The only use of weeds is to make a ne- 
cessity of tilling the ground more frequently. 

EAR-ACHE. 
There is scarcely any ache to which children are subject so bad 
to bear and difficult to cure as the ear-adhc. Rut there is a remedy 
never known to fail. Take a bit of cotton batting, put upon it a 
pinch of black pepper, gather it up and tie it, dip in sweet oil, 
and insert it into the ear. Put a flannel bandage over the head 
to keep it warm. It will give immediate relief. 

TO CURE A FELON. 
The London Lancet suggests the following simple treatment 
for felons : " As soon as the disease is felt put directly over the 
spot a fly blister, about the size of the thumb-nail, and let it re- 
main for six hours, at the expiration of which time, directly un- 
der the surface of the blister may be seen the felon, which can 
instantl}' be taken out with the point of a needle or a lancet." 
A piece of adhesive plaster will keep the blister in place. 

REMEDY FOR POISON BY IVY. 
It seems to me that I read all kinds of cures for ivy poison 



except tlie right one. I have always endeavored to keep it before 
the public, but have failed. It is to dissolve sugar of lead — a 
bit the size of a hazelnut — in half a teacup of sweet milk or warm 
water. Apply as warm as can be easily borne with a soft, 
linty piece of linen rag. Three or four applications are sufficient 
to effect a cure. If the poison is on the face and nearing the 
eyes or mouth, this astringent wash may be constantly applied. 
It is a marvelous cure, and by watching closely one can see the 
fevered blisters turn from white to yellow during the application. 
This remed}^ for ivy poison should prevent a good deal of suffer- 
ing- It is well where a member of the family is easily poisoned 
to keep sugar of lead in the house all the time. Let it be labelled 
and kept where it can be found the moment it is wanted. Keep 
it well wrapped up, that it may not lose its strength. — Cor. Oliio 
Farmer. 



now TO GET RID OF HOUSEHOLD PESTS. 

Mercury extnrminates flies and bugs, but I think cleanliness 
the best and perhaps the only preventive. The common house- 
fly I do not molest, believing that it moie than compensates for 
its trouble by clearing the atmosphere of effluvia and the animal- 
cules which always arise from the putrefaction of decaying sub- 
stances during warm weather. 

For the residue of insects that infest my vegetable garden, I 
find that the laboratory of the chemist furnishes materials fatal 
to them all, among which white hellebore and cayenne pepper are 
of the most utility. The bug or worm which cannot find vege- 
tation unflavored with these articles will seek its breakfast else- 
where and leave a garden unmolested. 

A few drops of carbolic acid in a pint of water will clean house 
plants of lice in a very short time. If mosquitoes or other blood- 
suckers infest our sleejjing rooms at night, we uncork a bottle of 
pennyroj^al. and these insects leave in great haste, nor will they 
return so long as the air in the room is loaded with the fumes of 
the aromatic herb. If rats enter the cellar, a little powdered pot- 
ash thrown into the holes, or mixed with meal and scattered in 
in their runways, never fails to drive them away. 



25 



TAKE CARE OF YOUR IMPLEMENTS. 



A great many farmers are constantly grumbling about the high 
prices of farming tools, asserting that the purchasing of such im- 
plements as they want keeps them continually in debt. So it 
doe? ; but let us see where the fault lies. Our business takes us 
over the whole country, and we think we can safely say that not 
one farmer in ten takes decent care of his farm tools. Every day 
we see some implement lying just where it was last used, exposed 
to rain or snow. We have seen Mowers and Reapers left on the 
bottoms and in sloughs where they were used last, with the ice 
up to the hubs, frozen in solid. We have seen farmers plow up 
to their Mower, or Harvester, then move it on to the plowed 
ground instead of taking it under a shed, and go on with their 
work. And we have seen plows left in the ground just where a 
cold snap happened to stop their plowing. Such farmers need 
never expect to succeed. If they are slack in one thing, the}' are 
most always so in everything. The trouble is not that you have 
to pay so much, but that you have to pay so often. If you have 
no shed, buy five dollars worth of lumber, get four posts, stick 
them in the ground, and put hay enough on top to keep the rain 
and snow off your tools. Then oil over all steel or iron work to 
keep it from rusting, and your tools will last five times as long 
as they will otherwise. If, however, this is too much trouble, you 
can leave your tools out where they can rust and rot, and every 
year or two you will have to buy a new supply. E. Root. 

RECEIPT WORTH ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. 

The Ohio Cultivator says the following receipt if! worth one 
thousand dollars to ever}- housekeeper : 

•'Take one pound of sal soda, and half a pound of unslaeked 
lime and put them in a gallon of water, boil twenty minutes, let 
it stand till cool, then drain off and put in a small jug or jar, 
soak 3^our dirty clothes over night or until they are wet through, 
then wring them, and rub plenty of soap and water, add one tea- 
cupful of the washing fluid ; boil half an hour or more, rinse, and 
your clothes will look better than by the old way of washing 
twice before boiling. This is an invaluable receipt, and every 
poor, tired woman should try it." 



26 



FOR BAD BREATH. 



For bad breath here is a recipe : Three hours before breakfast 
take a teaspoonful of the following mixture : Chlorate of potassa, 
two drachms ; sweetened water four ounces. Wash the mouth 
occasionull}'^ with the same mixture, and the breath will be as 
sweet as an infant's of two months. 



GLUE, 

Melted as usual, will keep liquid when cold, if a few drops of 
nitric acid are added to it. This is Spalding's Liquid Glue, and 
is very handy, if always kept in the house. 

ABOUT CHILDREN. 

Children are children as kittens are kittens. A sober, sensible 
old cat, that sits purring before the fire, does not trouble herself 
because her kitten is hurrying and dashing here and there, in a 
ever of excitement to catch its own tail. She sits still and purrs 
on. People should do the same with chilnren. One of the diffi- 
culties of home education is the impossibility of making parents 
keep still ; it is with them, out of their affection, all watch and 
worry. 

PERPETUAL MOTION. 

He said, " I have discovered perpetual motion." " Let's see 
it," " let's see it," they all cried. He showed them the baby. 

TO PRESERVE POSTS. 

The American Chemist says that a Western farmer discovered 
many years ago that wood could be made to last longer than iron 
in the ground. Time and weather, lie says, seem to have no ef- 
fect on it. The posts can be prepared for less than two cents a- 
piece. This is the recipe : Take boiled linseed oil and stir into 
it pulverized charcoal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of 
this over the timber, and, he adds, there is not a man who will 
live to see it rot. 



27 



BAG-MARKING INK. 



A correspondent of the English Me.ehanic gives the following 
recipe for an ink, the permanency of which he sa3's is perfect, even 
when bags filled with chemical manures have been in rain and 
sunshine for ten days : Boil 1 lb. of logwood chips in 1 gallon of 
water, at boiling point, ten minutes ; then stir in the eighth of an 
ounce of bichromate of potash, and boil this ten minutes longer- 
then add, when cold, \ lb. of common gum, dissolved, and stir 
well in. This will flow well from the pen, and will mark bags 
with either the stencil plate or block. The cost of the above ink 
is about 12 cents per gallon. 



PAINT FOR FARMERS. 

A writer states that farmers will find the following profitable 
lor house or fence paint : Skim milk, two quarts ; fresh slaked 
lime, eight ounces ; linseed oil, six ounces ; white Burgundy pitch, 
two ounces ; Spanish white, three pounds. The lime is to be 
slaked in water exposed to the air, and then mixed with about 
one-fourth of the milk ; the oil in which pitch is dissolved to be 
added, a little at a time, then the rest of the milk, and afterwards 
the Spanish white. This is for wliite paint. If desirable, any 
other color may be produced ; thus, if a cream color is desired, 
in place of part of the Spanish white use the ochre alone. Farm- 
ers wishing to economize in painting fences, or temporary struc- 
tures, will probably find the above valuable. 



AN EFFECTUAL SCARECROW. 

Decidedly the best scarecrow that has ever been tried is made 
by taking a medium size, egg-shaped potatoe, sticking into it long 
wing feathers from chickens at each side, for wings, and others 
spread out, fan-shaped, at one end for a tail. A wooden head 
may also be whittled out and stuck on, making the whole look 
like a large bird. B}^ sticking a peg in the back, to which a string 
is tied, and suspending it from a cross piece on a high pole, all 
birds will be eftectually frightened off, as the}- will take it for a 
hawk. One in a field or vine3'ard of considerable size will fully 
answer the purpose. 



28 



WET GRAIN. 



Many farmers are vexed and tired with wet and damp grain 
and others are deterred from threshing out of the shock, from 
their fears of injury to the grain while in tlie bin. 

The remedy for these troubles is a few stones scattered through 
the bin, or bettor yet, a few briclis. They will absorb the moist- 
ure, and the grain will come out like shot. Try it, brother farm- 
ers ; there is no patent on it. 

GUNS AND RIFLES 

May be easily cleaned from lead by the following : If a muz- 
zle-loader, stop up the nipple or communication hole with a little 
wax, or, if a breech-loader, insert a cork in the breech rather 
tightly ; next pour some quicksilver into the barrel, and put an- 
other cork in the muzzle, tlicn proceed to roll it up and down the 
barrel, shaking it about for a few minutes. .The mercury and the 
lead will form an amalgam, and leave the barrel as clean and free 
from lead as the first day it came out of the shop. The same 
quicksilver can be used repeatedly by straining it through wash 
leather; for the lead will be left behind in the leather, and the 
quicksilver will be again fit for use. 

HOW TO CLEAN A TEA OR COFFEE TOT. 

If the inside of your tea or coffee pot is black from long use, 
fill it with water, throw in a piece of hard soap, set on the stove 
and let boil from half an hour to an hour. It will clean as bright 
as a new dollar and cost no work. 



STONE JARS 

Which have bucomo oU'ensive and unfit for use, may be ren- 
dered perfectly sweet by packing tliem full of earth and letting 
them stand two or three weeks. 

TO REMOAM^] FRECKLES. 
Strain horse radish into a cup of cold sour milk ; let it stand 



29 

twelve hours, strain and apply two or three times a day. Or, mix 
lemon juice, one ounce; pulverized borax, one-quarter drachm; 
sugar, one-half drachm; keep a few days in a glass bottle, then 
apply occasionally. 



BTJSIISrESS T-A.BI_.ES. 



HOW TO LAY OFF A SQUARE ACRE OF GROUND. 

Measure 209 feet on each side, and j'ou will have a square acre, 
within an inch. 



CONTENTS OF AN ACRE. 



An acre contains 4,840 square 3'ards. 
A square mile contains 640 acres. 



LAND MEASURE. 

144 square inches 1 scfuare foot. 

9 square feet 1 square 3'ard. 

30| square yards 1 square rod. 

40 square rods 1 square rood. 

4 square roods 1 square acre. 

640 square acres 1 square mile. 



MEASURES OF DISTANCE. 

A •' Sabbath-day's journey " is 1,155 yards — (this is eighteen 
yards less than two-thirds of a mile. 
A " day's journey " is 33j miles. 
A cubit is two feet. 
A great cubit is 1 1 feet. 
A palm is 3 inches. 
A span is 10| inches. 



so 



A pace is 3 feet. 

Death is a black camel that kneels before every door. 



LONG MEASURE. 

12 inches , 1 foot. 

3 feet 1 ^'^ard. 

5^ yards, or 16| feet 1 rod. 

320 rods, or 1,7 GO yards, or 5,280 feet 1 mile. 

3 miles (measuring at sea) 1 league. 

6 feet (depth of water) 1 fathom. 

4 inches (horse measure) 1 hand. 



LIQUID MEASURE. 

4 gills 1 pint 

2 pints 1 quart. 

4 quarts .' 1 gallon. 

3I5 gallons 1 barrel. 

63 gallons 1 hogshead. 



COMxMERCIAL WEIGHTS. 

1 6 drams 1 ounce. 

16 ounces 1 pound. 

25 pounds 1 iiuarter. 

4 quarters 1 hundred weight. 

20 hundred weight 1 ton. 



:M:isoEiLL^isrEOTJS t^ble. 



12 units, or things 1 dozen. 

12 dozen 1 gross. 

20 things 1 score. 

1 96 pounds 1 barrel of flour. 



31 

200 pounds 1 barrel of pork. 

56 pounds 1 firkin of butter. 

24 sheets of paper 1 quire. 

20 quires of paper 1 reara. 

4 feet wide, 4 feet high, and 8 feet long 1 cord of wood 



FURNITURE POLISH. 

Equal proportions of turpentine, linseed oil and vinegar, 
thoroughly applied and then rubbed with flannel, is an excellent 
furniture polish. 



OLMSTED'S VARNISH, 

Made by melting one part of rosin with ten parts of lard, will 
prevent rust or corrosion on sheet iron or other metal to which it 
is applied. 

LEGAL NUMBER OF POUNDS PER BUSHEL. 

Apples, dried 24. 

Bran 20. 

Beans, white *. 60. 

Buckwheat 52. 

Charcoal 22. 

Corn, shelled 50. 

" ear TO. 

Corn meal 48. 

Dried peaches 23. 

" " pared 33. 

Grass seed, blue 14. 

" " clover 60. 

" " orchard 14. 

" " red top 14. 

" " timothy 45. 

" " millet ...50. 

Middlings, fine 40. 

" coarse 30. 

Oats 32. 



32 

Onions ^ 56. 

Potatoes 60. 

'' sweet . . , , 55. 

Wheat 60. 

Rye 56. 

Salt 50. 

Turnips 55. 

Lime 80- 



XJSEIF'TJL TJ^BLE. 



QUANTITY OF SEEDS REQUIRED PER ACRE 

Wlieat 1| to 2 bushels. 

Rye U " 

Oats 2 " 

Barley 2 " 

Peas 1 to 2 " 

White Beans U " 

Buckwheat ^ " 

Corn, broadcast 4 " 

Corn, in drills lto2to3 '• 

Corn, in hills 4 to 8 quarts. 

Broom Corn i bushel. 

Potatoes 10 to 15 " 

Beets 3 pounds. 

Carrots 2 " 

Ruta Bagas | " 

Millet i bushel. 

Clover, white 4 quarts. 

Clover, red 5 " 

Timothy 6 " 

Orchard Grass 1 to 2 to 3 bushels. 

Red Top 1 to 2 pecks. 



A CERTAIN CURE FOR CHILLS. 
Take 20 grains quinine, 20 drops turpentine, 20 drops tincture 
of iron. Mix, and take one-half 4 hours before the chill comes. 



33 



and 2 hours before chill time take the other half. Then every 
tth, 14th and 2l8t clay take the same quantity 3 hours before 
chill time. 

NO. 2. 

Quinine 20 grains, pulverized alum 2 drams, water 1 ounce, sul- 
phuric acid 20 drops, good brandy 3 oz. First dissolve the qui- 
nine in the water, add ihe acid, then add the alum and brandy. 
Dose ; A tablespoouf ul for a full-grown person every one, two, or 
four hours during intermission. This remedy rarely fails. 



BUCKEYE PILE OINTMENT. 
Take half a dozen buckeyes, remove the shells, bruise and stew 
in half a pint of lard slowly for an hour or two, strain, and when 
cool add two ounces of citrine ointment and mix well. This is a 
very successful pile remedy. 



HEALING SALVE. 
Rosin and beeswax each 2ounces, sweet oil or tallow 8 ounces. 
Melt all together. Pour it into a bucket of cold water, pull and 
work it same as candy, and make into balls. It will keep for- 
ever, is good for all common sores, and can be used for grafting 
wax or sealing fruit cans. 



VERMIFUGE CANDY. 

Make a strong decoction of sage 2 parts and of worm seed 1 
part. Strain and boil down, adding sugar enough to make it into 
candy. This is the same preparation that is sold at 50 cents per 
box, or for 2 dollars a pound. 

BURNS. 

For burns apply lime water and sweet oil, equal parts, with a 
feather. Then sprinkle with wheat flour so as to cover com- 
pletely the burnt part. We know of nothing that will relieve the 
pain more rapidly. 



u 



BRUISES 



May often be healed by a liberal application of beef brine, 
wormwood or tansy lotions, or strong decoction of mullen leares 
are also good. 



WOUNDS 

Should be washed twice a day with clean soft water and a lit- 
tle castile soap addedy tlien rub with whale oil, which will keep 
off the flies. In its absence lard will do. 

Wounds from the saddle are best healed with white lead moist - 
ened with sweet oil or milk. The saddle should be taken off and 
the horses back washed at every baiting. 



THE FARMERS' FRIENDS. 
The swallow, swift, and nighthawk are the guardians of the at- 
mosphere. They check the increase of insects that otherwise 
would overload it. Wood peckers, creepers and chickadees are 
the guardians of the trunks of trees. Warblers and flycatchers 
protect the foliage. Blackbirds, thrushes, crows and larks pro- 
tect the surface of the soil ; snipe and woodcock the soil under 
the surface. Each tribe has its respective duties to perform in 
the economy of nature ; and it is an undoubted fact that if the 
birds were all swept away from off the earth, man could not live 
upon it, vegetation would wither and die, insects would become 
so numerous that no living thing could withstand their attacks. 
The wholesale destruction occasioned by the grasshoppers, which 
have so lately devastated the West, is undoubtedly caused by the 
thinning of the birds, such as grouse, prairie hens, etc., which 
feed upon them. The great and inestimable service done to the 
farmer, gardener and flourist, by the birds, is only becoming 
known by sad experience. Spare the birds and save your fruit; 
the little corn and fruit taken by them is more than compensated 
by the vast quantities of noxious insects destroyed. The long 
persecuted crow has been found, by actual experiment, to do far 
more good, by the vast quantity of grubs and insects he devours, 
than the little harm he does in the few grains of corn he pulls up. 
He is one of the farmers' best friends. 



35 



ODORLESS PRIVIES. 



They may be very easily kept free from any disagreeable odor 
by the use of fine dr}' earth. The fine dust on clay roads cannot 
be excelled. Clay dust is far superior to sand : but dry pulver- 
ized earth of any kind will do. Place a barrel full of it in <^c 
corner with a tin cup holding half a pint, and have erety ^fie 
using it throw a cup full of the dry du«t drer the deposit imeiV 
diately. No odor will ever be perceptible, and the contents may 
be removed at any time without offence and be put into the com- 
post heap. This is substantially the old plan which the children 
of Israel were commanded to adopt when on their journey through 
the wilderness. It has never been excelled. 



SUBSOILIXG. 

When I see the gardens dried up and the corn withered be- 
cause of shallow cultivation, the question, why don't people plow 
deeper ? naturally suggests itself. 

Early in tlie spring, that was followed by one of the driest 
seasons, I plowed and subsoiled about six acres of poor old field 
and planted in corn, with no manure but a little leached ashes, 
and with good cultivation it made a fair crop, while all around 
the upland corn was dried up and produced little or nothing. 
The corn was followed with oats and clover, without manure. 
Result, a good crop af oats and good stand of clover ; and two 
3^cars afterwards this land produced more corn i)er acre than the 
bottom lands beside it. I attribute all these good results to the 
subsoil plow. I then used two plows and two teams, of course. 
I have since made a combination of the turning and subsoil plows 
by which one man and team do both efrectuall}'. I find that two 
horses will pull two six-inch plows (one above the other) very 
well. Mine arc adjustable, and can be easily set to run at any 
desired depth. 



BEWARE OF PATENT COW-MILKERS. 

They will ruin th<! cows Anytliing inserted in the teat will 
cause inflamation. 



M 

TO GET A GOOD STAND OF GRASS. 

Ill my opinion the veiy best way to get a good stand of grass 
is to have the land well plowed and pretty well covered with short 
manure, to be harrowed in with the seed (winter oats) late in 
August, and folloAV with two bushels of orchard grass and tew 
pounds of clover to the acre, and hitch to a plank a little more 
than one-third of the wa}' from one end, which will cause it to 
run diagonally across the harrow tracks. This will cover the 
seed sufliciently, or a light brush may be used. The crop of oats, 
clover and orchard grass will all come together the next year, 
and if a'OU have done your work well the crop will be enormous, 
and need cutting just when the clover tops fairly commence dy- 
ing, not when they are dead. You will get a good pasture or 
another cutting in the fall. Never keep grass pastured down 
short. Let it grow up a little occasionally. It will pay better 
and give it a breathing spell. Except where there is a sandy or 
alluvial subsoil clover will do much better if the land is well and 
deepl}' broken with a subsoil plow. 

Nothing better for tobacco than plenty of hard wood ashes. 
Many think that with plenty of ashes and a little good compost 
sandy old fields arc better than fresh land. 

GIANT FRUIT DRYER. 
Build it like a tobacco barn, about twelve feet square; place a 
door in the middle of one side and leave an open passage to the 
opposite wall. On each side of the passage erect racks to sup- 
port the frames, one or more tiers, as may be required, which should 
be at least a foot above each other to allow a free circulation of 
air. Make the frames of laths Unce feet square, or two bj^ three 
feet, and stretch across them coarse brown sheeting, drawing each 
wa}' tightly with a strong thread. It may be tacked on, but will 
need taking off and washing occasionally. Have plenty of frames 
so the fruit may be evenly and thinly spread. Have a well-con- 
structed flue that will not permit the escape of any smoke in the 
building, and do not raise the heat high enough to make the fruit 
crusty, because that will injure it. Find what part is coolest and 
place the fresli fruit there, removing others as it dries to the warm- 
est place. You can dry in first-class style in any weather apples, 
peaches, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, or tomatoes, and 



37 

thus secure the highest prices. Probably if you allow a little 
fresh air to enter just over the flue it may be of advantage; but 
that will depend on the tightness of your house. Good fruit and 
good management will pay. 

Remember that ants are disgusted with coal oil. 



BARNS AND STABLES GOOD AND CHEAP. 
The3' are as necessary at the South as anywhnre. If there is 
less necessity for housing stock there is more for making and 
saving manure, every bit of which should be kept under cover, 
either in boxstalls, where it may be left until wanted for compost 
on the field or thrown out from the stables under a cheap roof, 
which need not be quite tight. Barns are also necessary for pre- 
serving grain, straw, hay, fodder, shucks, &c., and for conveni- 
ence in feeding. The saving of time and material will pay the 
cost of a good barn every two years. The following pljin, sim- 
ple, cheap, convenient and durable,has been found to come nearer 
suiting ever3'body than any other : A frame 40 or 42 feet wide, 
and as long as desi.ied. An 18 feet floor t-hrough the middle, with 
a loft high enough so you can drive through with any load ; on 
either side stables, with mangers or troughs next the floor. Forty 
feet gives j'ou 11 foot stables, 42 feet 12 foot stables, or the stables 
may be wider on one side if desired. You may have box-stalls 
or stanchions or tie-chains, and can do all feeding, cleaning and 
milking without once going out of doors. The corner posts should 
be 16 feet long, so as to give plenty of lofL-room. For cow sta- 
bles 6^ feet high ii sufticient. Horse stables a little higher. The 
timber should be of sufficient size and properly framed to stand 
the weight within and storms without. Plan and specification 
furnished on application. 



MY LITTLE BOOK 
Would fall short of its mission if I should fail to add some 
practical truths in regard to our dearest and mosi important in- 
terests. We may have pleasant surroundings ; our barnes may 



38 

be full and our store-houses overflowing ; we may have elegant 
horses, fat cattle and fine sheep ; we may even be finely clothed 
and " fare sumptuously," yet if we do not attend to our soul's in- 
terests there remains for us only an eternity of remidless woe. 
I have been one of the wicked men of the world, and I daily bless 
that abounding grace which enables me to depart farther and yet 
farther from all evil, tp seek peace and pursue it. Therefore, with 
a few other thoughts, I respectfully hand you 



"MY CREED." 

I will watch closely and do no evil; but constantl}' learn to do 
well. I will wrong no one. I will defraud no one. I will covet 
no man's silver or gold, or anything that he possosseth, and will 
do good to all, as I have opportunit}', fully believmg and trusting 
in the Triune God for all things that ra.ay be necessary for me in 
this world and in the world to come. Loving all, forgiving all, 
without malice and without hypocrisv, now, hereafter and for- 
ever. And to obtain power and grace to do all these things I will 
ever pray God, for his Son's sake, to grant me all I need; for He 
will do it. 

" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
tha chief." 



HEREAFTER. 

Ingersull says " wo arc commanded to love our enemies. God 
roasts his." 

God says "depart," but that means simply go to your own 
place; the home you have preferred and chosen. It might al- 
most be called a matter of taste. Some insist that all is heaven 
in the spirit land. Suppose all the thieves, liars, swearers, adul- 
terers, murderers, idolaters, all the jail birds, all the penitentiary 
inhabitants and all the gallowa fruit was to go there unrepentant, 
would not heaven be a hell of a place ? 



TRUE REP1']NTANCE. 

Sorrow for what is wrong. 



39 

Contrition, from contrero, to rule or bruise, with sorrow. Re- 
morse, from remordes, to have a gnawing pain. Contrition may 
be a long and severe sorrow. We repent of a bad bargain, or of 
not making a good one. Altamout had remorse when looking 
his crimes in their faces. He said, "and is there another hell? 
O thou indulgent Lord God, hell itself were a refuge could it hide 
me from thy frown." Repentance is to have such sorrow for sin 
as produces newness of life. It is forsaking of sin, forsake, aban- 
don, relinquish ; let go ; turn from it. Repentance toward God 
is God-given, and has but one meaning, viz : Sorry for — to the 
forsaking of sin — and there is no change of mind where there 
is no change of way. A legal repentance may change the out- 
ward life, but true repentance leads directly to change of heart 
and life, and by justification snatches the gnawing pain from the 
iron grasp of a deadly remorse. Godly sorrow for sin is pain in the 
soul for sin, on account of sin, because offensive to God. It 
appears by carefulness to search out what is wrong, and b}' fear 
to continue iu sin. In vehement desire to get rid of sin, and ut- 
terly loathing one's self finally on account of sin. Heart-rent— 
pricked to the heart — mortals. Paul says " I died." All my 
good opinion and confidence failed, 'fhis necessarily induced 
some action. " Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Ready 
to be or do anything so the terrible load be lifted. Thank God it 
may be, but we cannot ask in faith forgiveness of God, while we 
indulge in resentment against any or hatred of our neighbor. He 
stands before us next to God. True repentance is convincing of 
sin. Confession of it, sorrow for it, hatred to it, and renuncia- 
tion of it. Author of repentance, God ; subjects, sinners; means, 
the word and the Spiiit, sometimes afflictions ; steps up to heav- 
en, penitence, prayer, pardon, peace, purity, praise. Hearty, earn- 
est, determined, continuous prayer will sooner or later bring every 
blessing, remove all fear, give 'perfect confidence, and cause the 
gates of Paradise to swing wide open for the entrance of every 
faithful soul. 



nSTDEX. 



Page- 

Building Houses 4. 

The Means Grass 4. 

The Cow Pea 5. 

How to Have Plenty of Forage G. 

How to Cure Pea Vines for Hay 6. 

Clover and Orchard Grass 6. 

Seeding to Grass Alone 7. 

Plant Lice 7. 

How to Make Your Own Fertilizers 7. 

How to Make Superphospate S. 

How to Make Compost i>. 

A >'5.i < ' Formula V». 

How to Dissolve Bones 0. 

About Ashes 1(». 

Formulae for Compost Nos. 1 aud 2 10. 

" 3 and 4 11. 

Rearing Calves Better and Ciieaper 11. 

Treatment of Stock 1-. 

Important to Owners of Horses 12. 

To Make Stock Work Many Years 12. 

To Destroy Warbles 13. 

Murrain or Intlamation 13. 

Remedy for Hog Cholera 14. 

Results 14. 

To Prevent or Cure Hog Cholera 14. 

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 15. 

Lice and Ticks 15. 

To prevent or Cure Chicken Cholera 15. 

To Keep Clear of liice 16- 

Scaly Legs 1^- 

Success 10. 

Poultry Cholera 16. 

Winter Eggs 17. 

Hatching 17. 



II. 

To Protect Plants from the Yellow Fly 17. 

Sure Way to Raise Melons 17. 

(iilt-Edged Butter 18. 

How to Make Pork at Two Cents a Pound 18. 

To Make Sheep Profitable 19. 

Soft Soap 19. 

The Dollar Recipe 19. 

Hard Soap 20. 

A Liniment that Never Fails 2i). 

Liniment No. 2 2 •. 

To Restore Gray Hair 20. 

Whitewash that Won't Rub Off 21. 

To Test for Impure Water 21. 

Mandrake 21. 

(xalvanic Battery 21. 

Cotton-Seed Planter 22. 

(lood Garden 22. 

To Stop Hinges from Creaking 22. 

Stir the Soil 23. 

Ear Ache 23. 

To Cure a Felon 23. 

Remedy for Poison Ivy 23. 

How to Get Rid of Household Pests 24. 

Take Care of Your Implements 25. 

Receipt Worth a Thousand Dollars 25. 

For Bad Breath 26. 

Liquid Glue 26. 

About Children 26. 

To Preserve i'osLs 26. 

Bag-Marking Ink 27. 

Paint f< )r Farmers 27. 

An Effectual Scare-Crow , 27. 

Wet Grain 2S. 

To Clean Guns and Rifles 28. 

To Clean a Tea or Coffee Pot 28. 

To Clean Stone -lars 28. 

To Remove Freckles 28. 

Business Tables 29. 

Weights and Measures 30. 

Olmstead's Varnish 31. 

Furniture Polish 31. 

Legal Number of Pounds Per Bushel 31. 

Quantity of Seed Required Per Acre 32. 

A Certain Cure for Chills 32. 



III. 

Buckeye Pile Ointment 33. 

Healing Salve 33. 

Vermifuge Candy 33. 

Burns 33. 

Bruises 34. 

Wounds 34. 

The Farmers' Friends 34. 

Odorless Privies 35. 

Subsoiling 35. 

To (iet a Good Stand of Grass 36. 

Giant Fruit Dryer 36. 

Barns and Stables Good and Cheap 37. 

My Creed 38. 

Hereafter 38. 

True Repentance 38. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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